POONCH, Kashmir: An Indian army helicopter with Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Ranbeer Singh on board crash-landed in occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district.
According to Indian media, seven people including the Indian northern army commander were aboard the chopper. Indian officials have said that no casualty took place in the incident. They said the chopper had encountered a technical issue, therefore it had to make an emergency landing.
An investigation has been launched into the crash-landing.
On Sept 25, an Indian Air Force trainer jet MiG-21 had crashed near the city of Gwalior, while both the pilots, a group captain and squadron leader, had ejected safely.
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The MiG-21 was on a routine training from Gwalior Airbase when the accident took place near the airfield in the morning in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind district.
“The two pilots ejected safely according to the information passed to us from the village head from the spot, some 60 km from the district headquarters,” Bhind Superintendent of Police Rudolf Alvares had told the Press Trust of India.
“We informed the IAF officials in Gwalior about the incident,” the police officer had said.
Viewing deplorable condition of its air force, the India’s idea of an all-out war with Pakistan and China seems to be far-fetched.
The capability of the IAF was exposed in February this year when it locked horns with its Pakistani counterpart and lost its two fighter jets and got arrested Indian Wing Commander Abhinandan.
The poor state of the IAF in comparison to its Pakistani counterparts was admitted by a 35-member Indian parliamentary committee on defence in 2015. The parliamentary body had raised concerns on acute shortage of pilots and aircrafts.
A report of the committee had noted that “even the slight edge over rival neighboring nations would be lost if complacency remains”. According to the committee the Indian IAF officials rued that the number of active fighter squadrons was (35) seven short of the sanctioned strength of 42, and it could further decline in coming years.
